What I found most interesting in talking to the candidates, is that both Rosa & Matt understand that importance of Social Media. Essentially the gubernatorial race is a numbers game, you do not have to beat your opponent, you just need to have more supporters. The viral nature of social media lends itself to that very well. Did you know that there are over 350k Mainers on Facebook? Securing even a fraction of that number would bode very well for either candidate.

Particularly fascinating is that Matt Jacobson is doing all of his own tweeting and Facebooking at this time. Although that might change, Jacobson states that he only wants to put out what he finds interesting and will be interesting to others rather than using social media as a broadcast channel.

One cool concept that Rosa Scarcelli implemented was a community feedback system entitled, “Ideas for Maine” where Mainers have the opportunity to send her their own personal ideas and thoughts of how Maine should be run.

I walked away from both Rosa & Matt, thinking these two get it. But as Jacobson put it, ‘there is no blueprint for this stuff’. He is correct. So, I thought I’d put together a couple strategies I would use if I were running for Governor:

Event Photos: I’d bring a photographer with me or have my campaign manager take photos at every offline event I did. Photos with locals, photos with other politicians, business owners….everyone. After every picture I would hand the person in the photo a business card with my Facebook Address on it that says, “Tag yourself” in this photo.
Bonus: I’d also upload these photos to Flickr and use Animoto to create a slideshow, which I would upload to YouTube and Facebook.

Video Series: I’d create a weekly video series where I answered questions from the street, or in studio interview session or even just a personal branding piece, when they watched me with my children sledding down the eastern prom, eating at Local 188 or talking to Maine business owners.
Bonus: I’d use TubeMogul to upload the video to over a dozen video sharing sites.

Mobile: Because I’m a mobile freak. I’d have an iPhone application which gave supporters information about my upcoming events, access to my videos, blogs and even the ability to send me a question.
Bonus: I’d also have supporters sign up to get text alerts from me. <--This is effective the week and especially the day of voting.

Once again I want to thank Rosa Scarcelli & Matt Jacobson for allowing me to interview them and pick their brain on how Social Media will be playing a role in their campaigns. Good luck to you both!

Last night I posed this question to Twitter:

“What is the best bank in Maine to open a business checking account? Any recs?”

A seemingly boring question, after all, my business is new and I’m looking for a reputable bank to do business with. I have a core group of friends on Twitter whose recommendations I trust, so I thought that would be the best place to start my bank information gathering.

I was right. In less than 30 minutes, 21 local Maine residents responded with recommendations, personal stories and nightmares of their experiences with over 8 banks in the Southern Maine area. The most loved local bank was Bangor Savings Bank. The ones to stay away from, according to the local twitter crowd, were Bank of America & Key Bank. A quick search of all eight banks mentioned only revealed one of them was using Twitter. Bank of America. (Update: TD Bank also has at Twitter account)

I understand that as a banking institution, jumping into social media can be risky. But if for no other reason than to listen to what consumers are saying about you..you will get value out of it. Whenever I present at social media seminars, I always emphasize that listening is just as important as engaging in social media.

Below you will find what I would do if I were working as a social marketing consultant for these banks:

If I were Bangor Savings Bank: I would send the current customers who gave a positive recommendation a toaster or a toolbox (or whatever they are giving away that month. I love free gifts from my bank). This would further solidify these customers as a brand evangelists. Another bonus is that you can bet your bottom dollar that they are going to tweet about their free gift too!

If I were Bank of America, KeyBank or TD Bank: I would reach out to those who have had issues and gave negative recommendations and do my best to answer any questions they had and reinforce that going forward those issues will be remedied in a much more timely and friendly manner.

If I were Norway Savings, Kennebunk Savings, Bath Savings or Gorham Savings: The consumer perception is positive for these banks. I would continue to monitor any conversations going on in social media and be ready to respond and say Thank you when a recommendation is given.

Do me a favor and pass this blog post along to anyone you know who works at one of these banks. They should know what consumers are saying about their company.

If you are real estate agent, chances are you’ve received a call from a company promising to get your real estate website to the ‘top of Google’. Chrystie Corns of Thirteen Thirty Marketing explains what they really mean when they say the ‘top of Google’.

Check out the post I wrote on The Real Estate Learning Group’s blog to see what the Pros & Cons are of using a service like this.

Amanda O’Brien & Kyle Pouliot of Social Media Breakfast Maine fame were kind enough to ask me to speak about Personal Branding at the upcoming Social Media Breakfast being held on December 18th at MPX. This month’s topic “Social Media: Personal v. Professional Brand” is especially dear to me as it is inherent to the social media philosophies of which I teach.

I work very closely with real estate agents who are trying to figure out how to make a name for themselves in this competitive market. My advice is always…be remarkable, be different. The real key is to figure out who you are, what you have to offer, what sets you apart from the competition and find a way to communicate those things online.

If you want to learn more about personal branding join me for breakfast on December 18th.

Photo Credit: PinkSherbet

Penelope ascribes to an unconventional method of blogging….honesty. The kind of honesty that makes her vulnerable to a point where even I’ve felt uncomfortable reading it. YET…I cannot stop reading. It’s the kind of writing that makes me want more, like a soap opera laden with sound advice. I’ve pinpointed four elements of her blogging style that make hers a stand out.

1. Be Yourself

If there is one thing I can say about Ms. Trunk is that she is who she is and she is unapologetic about it. As a blogger its important to write in a way that reveals who you are in an authentic way to your readers. Sometimes that means being vulnerable, or funny, or pithy, or brutally honest, if it is who you are, you should find a writing style that allows you to come across that way. When I was operating my first celebrity gossip blog, I often had friends tell me, “It’s as if I can hear your voice saying exactly what you writing.”  Finding your voice and being able to blog in a style that communicates that voice is important to your audience. People are drawn to bloggers who tell interesting stories, your stories are unique, they are interesting, go with it.

2. Admit your Faults

As professionals, as parents, and as lovers, there are many things we probably aren’t supposed to admit. Professional women aren’t blogging about the guilt they feel about the time spent away from their children. Entrepreneurs aren’t opening talking about their company financial struggles or if their company going broke. In one of Penelope’s blogs she openly admits that she didn’t pay the electricity bill on time and it had been shut off. Guess what? These things happen in everyday life, yet most people are scared of admitting their faults and in turn don’t blog about it. Why not? These are the stories people want to hear, these are the stories that let people know you are human, these are the stories that allow you to seek help and advice, these are the blog posts that allow you to grow.

3. Use research to support your statements

Using other people’s research to support your own thoughts helps. It helps for two reasons, one others are more inclined to believe you and two, it shows that you are doing your homework. How often have you read a blog posts with lots of matter of fact statements and wondered, “Where the hell is the proof of that?”. Back up your blog posts with research…it makes you look smart.

4. Sex it up and dumb it down

Is there anything sexy about career advice? Not really. Penelope manages to make her career advice blog sexy by using stories to illustrate sound career advice. For example read this blog post about the effects of a long commute, now read it until the end…I’ll wait. You like how she took a seemingly harmless and slightly mundane topic and turned it into a scintillating tale?

This blog, Chrystiecorns.com is new. My goal is to make this a space where I share thoughts from my internal dialogue. I am a professional, a mother and someone’s ex-wife, I have a lot to talk about…so here goes nothing….like I once said, it can only go up from here.

Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and blogs are changing the way Real Estate agents do business. This two hour immersion in social media will teach you the basic social media strategies and skills that can be applied immediately to enhance your real estate business and marketing efforts.

Register here for Social Media 101 – How to Build your Sphere of Influence with Online Tools

Marden’s has done a fantastic job of using their Twitter feed and Facebook fan page to let customers know about new inventory and special deals in their stores throughout the state. Marden’s has even done a couple of Treasure Hunt contest using Twitter and Facebook to give their customers clues as to where the treasure was.

On Friday, Marden’s posted a status update that said, “Ski Stock Goes Up For Sale tomorrow. Pics are available on the Portland Store page.” Clicking on the photos, brought you to several photos of amazing ski equipment, skis, boots, outerwear. I have a skier in my family and just knew that this was going to be a huge sale. We arrived at 9:02 (2 mins after opening) to find a swarm of people hovering around the skis. Hovering is the wrong word actually..it was like a mob scene. Shoppers were grabbing skis and loading their carts up with boots, poles, gloves, thermalwear, all at 60-70% retail price.  I asked several people in the mob how they found out about it and most said Facebook or from a friend.

Death or Glory took a different approach and used their MySpace profile to let people know about the $31 Halloween tattoo sale. First Death or Glory sent out a Bulletin telling all of their 910 friends of the killer sale. They then uploaded the flash sheets of Halloween tattoos that were going to be eligible for the $31 special.

I arrived at the tattoo shop around 11:00 am and the tattoo guns were already a-buzzing. Jamie, the shop owner, said that when he arrived at the shop around 9:00 that morning, there was already someone waiting to be tattooed. By the time I got there he had already done 3 tattoos and was anticipating many more.

Why were these two specials successful:

1. Those who knew about the deals felt like they had special insider knowledge. This is exactly what customers want to feel like they are part of an exclusive club.

2. It cost them nothing. When I asked the owner of Death or Glory if he had used traditional advertising to let people know about the Halloween special, he said he didn’t believe in spending money on radio or print because he has had great success in just using MySpace and word of mouth.

Hope you were able to get out and enjoy the Halloween weekend and hopefully got some sweet deals of your own.

Please be sure to connect with me on Slideshare: www.slideshare.com/ccmaine